Peter Labilliere (1725-1800), also known as Peter Labelliere, was the British Army Major buried upside down on Box Hill near Dorking in Surrey.

Biography

Labilliere was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

on 30 May 1725 to a family of French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

descent. He joined the British Army at the age of 14, becoming a major in 1760. After leaving the army he became a political agitator and was accused in 1775 of bribing British troops not to fight in the American War of Independence, although he was never tried for treason. Throughout the 1770s and 80s Labiliere corresponded regularly with both

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

(at that time the American representative in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) and the Long Island wax sculptor

Patience Wright Patience Lovell Wright (1725 – March 23, 1786) was a sculptor of wax figures, and the first recognized American-born sculptor. Biography Early life Patience Lovell was born at Oyster Bay, New York, into a Quaker farm family with a vegetaria ...

. The effect of his anti-war protests on British public sentiment is uncertain, although he appears to have attracted a following of over 700 like-minded adherents, and the army was required to rely on German mercenaries, as recruitment of British troops for the war became increasingly difficult. Labilliere moved to Dorking from Chiswick in around 1789, living in a small cottage called "The Hole in the Wall," on Butter Hill, and often visiting Box Hill to meditate. With old age he became increasingly eccentric and neglected his own personal hygiene to such an extent that he acquired the nickname "the walking dung-hill". Labilliere died on 6 June 1800. In accordance with his wishes he was buried head downwards, on 10 or 11 June on the western side of Box Hill above The Whites. In the presence of a crowd of thousands that included visitors from London as well as the local "quality gentry", Labilliere was buried without any religious ceremony, having reportedly said that the world was "topsy-turvey" and that it would be righted in the end if he were interred thus. But this preference was not mentioned in his "Book of Devotions": rather he there said that he wished to emulate the example of St Peter, who was crucified upside-down according to tradition.

Former and current memorial stones

Labilliere’s grave, on a steep incline above the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey distri ...

, was originally marked with a small, cube-shaped stone bearing the inscription: ::Peter Labelliere, aged 76 years, an eccentric resident of Dorking, was buried here head downwards, on 11 June 1800 Note the spelling Labelliere is used, whereas all surviving manuscripts indicate that he spelt his name Labilliere. He is also believed to have been 75 years old when he died (and not 76). The current stone, installed in the late 1950s, is on level ground, several metres to the east of the actual burial site. Although it gives his correct age at death, the stone erroneously states that Labilliere was buried in the month of July.

Literary longevity

Labelliere's story was recorded (under that spelling) by

John Timbs John Timbs (; 17 August 1801 – 6 March 1875) was an English author and antiquary. Some of his work was published under the pseudonym of Horace Welby. Biography Timbs was born in 1801 in Clerkenwell, London. He was educated at a private school ...

in his '' English Eccentrics and Eccentricities'', published in 1866. He then earned a mention (continuing the 'e' spelling) in

Edith Sitwell Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess ...

's 1933 book ''The English Eccentrics'', which surely draws on Timbs' description, and through which he came to feature in

W.H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

's 1940 book of poems '' New Year Letter'' (''The Double Man'' in the United States) (Part 1, ll. 368-82): :: eGet angry like Labellière, :: Who, finding no invectives hurled :: Against a topsy-turvy world :: Would right it, earning a quaint renown :: By being buried upside-down; :: Unwilling to adjust belief, :: Go mad in a fantastic grief :: Where no adjustment need be done, .. Also from the Sitwell account, he appears as a character in the 1964 chamber opera '' English Eccentrics'', by

Malcolm Williamson Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson, (21 November 19312 March 2003) was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death. Biography Williamson was born in Sydney in 1931; his father was an A ...

Works

* ''Christian political bee-hive: containing an assemblage of first principles, manifestly calculated to promote universal amity and good government and to secure real and permanent felicity to every individual who hath regard for truth and liberty or pure Christianity'' (1794)

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Portrait of Labilliere in the National Portrait Gallery collectionPortrait of Labilliere held by Dorking Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labilliere, Peter 1725 births 1800 deaths Box Hill, Surrey People from Dorking